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Ensuring Everyone Gets Fed

Zach Armstrong | April 20, 2020

Topics: Arlington Food Assistance Center, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Capital Area Community Food, coronavirus, covid 19, Feedmore, food charities, Food For Others, Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, Friendship House Roanoke, Virginia Peninsula Foodbank

A variety of charitable organizations are working hard to ensure that Virginians in need are getting enough to eat — a mission that’s more important than ever during the current outbreak.

A bumpy economic road lies ahead of us thanks to the unprecedented pandemic we find ourselves in the midst of today. Over 410,000 Virginians have filed for unemployment over the last few weeks. While the federal government has signed a relief package to assist affected individuals, many will likely still be in need of assistance while stay-at-home orders are in place.

Across the commonwealth, food banks and charities are offering their services to those in need. Residents have the opportunity to give back to their community by donating and volunteering through these organizations. 

FeedMore, a non-profit organization located in Richmond, provides for those who face hunger across 34 counties and cities. 

“We distribute food through our programs to our neighbors who are food insecure,” said Jessica Hickey, marketing and communications manager at FeedMore. “We also work with more than 270 other nonprofits across the state who help us distribute wholesome food for healthy meals to those in need.”

People can make a hands-on difference with FeedMore by volunteering to help prepare and package food in their Community Kitchen, or deliver meals to the senior and homebound neighbors the organization serves. Financial and food donations can also be made, with every $10 gift making 40 meals available to those in need. Find more information at FeedMore.org. 

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, a member of the Virginia Food Banks and Feeding America organizations, has distribution centers in Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Verona, and Winchester. 

Individuals can make one-time or monthly financial donations on their website at brafb.org/give-now/. One can choose to let their donation be used at the food bank’s discretion, or pick the ways their donation is used, including for farm fresh funds, produce markets, seniors, kid packs, or mobile food pantries. 

Food products can also be dropped off at one of their warehouses, and their Hunger Hero Toolkit can be downloaded for ideas on how to create a food drive. Individuals can also find ways to volunteer or host their own food drive on their website. 

Residents of the Roanoke area can donate food or money to the Friendship House Roanoke, who provides assistance through various programs. Donations to Friendship House can be made in-person at their location at 3926 Plantation Rd. 

“We’ve seen the need for food charities triple in recent weeks,” said Aaron Dowdy, director at Friendship House Roanoke. “We usually donate 40 to 50 boxes of food a week, but now that has increased to around 120, so we’re in need of donations and funding,”

Photo via Virginia Peninsula Foodbank/Facebook

The Virginia Peninsula Foodbank is giving charitable services for those in the southeastern region of Virginia including the cities of Hampton, Williamsburg, Newport News, Yorktown, Gloucester, and Mathews. 

Those in need of food in the area can go to the “Get Help” tab on their website and find partner agencies and mobile drive-thrus close to them by typing in their zip code. Mobile drive-thrus, which have opened up recently by the foodbank due to the pandemic demand, require recipients stay in their vehicles and clean their trunks before arrival in order to be served. 

Due to the extreme circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, income level requirements are being waived, since many people coming for assistance have never found themselves in the dire situation they’re in now. 

“There’s a lot of individuals who have never needed food assistance before, so you may see people with nice cars who’ve been laid off and this is their new reality,” said Karen Joyner, executive director at the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank. “We’ve seen over 60 percent of people coming through our services who’ve never visited us before.” 

Food charities in the NOVA region include the Arlington Food Assistance Center, the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, Capital Area Community Food, located in Lorton, and Food for Others, located in Fairfax. Information on donations and volunteer opportunities can be found on their websites. 

“We want to love and serve our neighbors and with this crisis the best thing we can do is provide basic needs to them,” said Dowdy. “Even though we’re practicing social distancing, this is one way we can still provide for them.”

Top Photo via Virginia Peninsula Foodbank/Facebook

Farms Feed Food Banks to Fight Hunger

VCU CNS | May 15, 2019

Topics: Agriculture Improvement Act, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Feed More, Feeding America, food banks, food insecurity, gentrification, Healthy Harvest Food Bank, Kroger Community Kitchen Garden, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, US Department of Agriculture

Today, many contributions to food banks are not rejects from retail but fresh-picked from local farms. The farm-to-food-bank movement is helping fight hunger in Virginia, where 10% of the population is food-insecure.

Lettuce, turnips and beets — oh my! Vegetables and flowers sprout side by side in a bountiful garden in Northside Richmond. But the harvest is not going to a grocery store or market stand. Instead, all of the crops will be donated to local food banks so low-income communities have access to fresh foods.

The Kroger Community Kitchen Garden, situated within Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, is a major contributor to Feed More, the parent organization for food banks and other agencies fighting hunger in 34 counties and cities in Central Virginia.

In the past, food banks relied on nonperishable donations from supermarkets and other businesses. Today, many of the contributions are not rejects from retail but fresh picked from local farms.

Farm-to-food-bank programs bring healthier options to people facing “food insecurity” — living without means or access to nutritious food. Such programs also offer producers an alternative market for the fruit and vegetables they have grown.

A national organization called Feeding America partners with food banks across the state, including Feed More in Richmond and the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Charlottesville, to create a network of hunger relief. Annie Andrews, director of operations at Feed More, said the movement has redefined the support food banks can provide for struggling communities.

“Ten, 15 years ago, food banks were reliant on shelf stable product; you looked at it as a pantry. We’ve absolutely converted to fresh and perishable food,” Andrews said.

The need for food is not solved by a corner store that sells chips and hot dogs. Farm-to-food-bank programs aim to supply better quality food that doesn’t just fill hungry bellies but also provides nutrition to prevent health problems.

Last year, Feed More received nearly $45 million in donated food — almost 30 million pounds of groceries. While retailers contributed more than 60%, about 12% came directly from growers. Produce accounted for 29% of all donated food.

Greg Knight, food sourcing manager for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, said most people who rely on food banks are not unemployed but rather underemployed. Often, they must choose between which basic needs they can afford, he said.

“We hear from clients that sometimes they have to make decisions between ‘Is it going to be gasoline today, or will it be groceries? Will it be the medication that my son or daughter needs, or will it be groceries or the electric bill?’” Knight said.

“There’s not enough funds to cover the immediate basic needs — so that’s where we step in. At least we can provide a good supplemental box of food that will then be nutritious and alleviate some of the other pressures.”

The state and federal governments have encouraged farmers to help out.

In 2016, Virginia instituted a tax credit as an incentive for farmers to donate crops to regional, nonprofit food banks. In exchange for the donation, farmers receive a 30% tax credit equal to the market value up to $5,000 yearly.

Knight said the tax credit is a great way to support farmers and provide food for those in need.

“What I’m paying for the box is only a portion of what the farmer would get at market. So he can take the difference between the two — market price and what I’m paying — and that difference then becomes a donation for him,” Knight said.

On the national level, Congress passed the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 to allocate $867 billion in subsidies over the next 10 years to support farmers harmed by fluctuating markets or poor harvests. The food purchased by the U.S. Department of Agriculture from farmers is often resold to food banks like Feed More at a reduced cost.

Community plants seeds for change

The USDA reported that since 2012, about 10% of households in Virginia qualified as “food insecure.” Andrews said the definition of that term is constantly evolving and varies by area.

In a densely populated urban area, she said, it means “there are no grocery stores within a mile.” But in a rural area, food insecurity (or a “food desert”) means “there’s not a grocery store within 10 miles,” Andrews added.

“The gentrification of cities coming into play and people moving into the suburbs — that’s where you’re kind of pushing some of that working poor out,” Andrews said. She said Feed More is seeing a rising need for help in the suburbs — “what you wouldn’t think of as a food insecurity area.”

The Kroger Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and Shalom Farms in Midlothian are among the biggest farm donors to Feed More.

Laurel Matthew, senior horticulturist at Lewis Ginter, oversees the community garden and decides what to grow in collaboration with Feed More.

“We have six varieties of summer squash. We have four varieties of eggplant. Lettuce, beans, peas, you name it — we’re trying to get it in the ground,” Matthew said.

The Kroger Community Kitchen Garden is an urban gardening program that has harvested and donated over 50,000 pounds of produce to Feed More since it began in 2009.

The community garden is one-third acre, funded in part by Kroger Mid-Atlantic under the company’s “Zero Hunger | Zero Waste” initiative. A volunteer base of 700 worked last year with on-staff horticulturalists to practice organic management of the garden and sustain a healthy harvest for the food bank.

Food banks tackle food-related health disparities

Feed More’s agency network involves almost 300 nonprofit organizations such as soup kitchens and emergency shelters. Healthy Harvest Food Bank joined the network in 2010 and last year became Feed More’s first Partner Distribution Organization, which aims to distribute food across 24 of Virginia’s rural agencies. The agency network distributed 19.3 million pounds of food during the past fiscal year.

Healthy Harvest Food Bank serves 12,000 people every month through 25 locations across six counties. In 2012, the food bank conducted a survey and found that 32% of its clients had diabetes.

The food bank partnered with Northern Neck-Middlesex Free Health Clinic and Virginia Cooperative Extension to begin a Healthy Food Pharmacy to teach clients with Type 2 diabetes how to prepare flavorful, nutritious meals to combat health issues. Participants in the eight-week class on average lowered their blood pressure by 17% and low-density lipoproteins cholesterol by 26%. (LDL is considered “bad” cholesterol because of its artery-clogging properties.)

Mark Kleinschmidt, president and CEO of Healthy Harvest Food Bank, said the Northern Neck and Upper Middle Peninsula region suffers from a culture of genetics and a lack of resources to escape the health crisis trap.

“We got a Food Lion and a Walmart, and there’s not that healthy options to eat at whatsoever,” Kleinschmidt said.

He said people want to eat healthy foods but often can’t.

“For one, it’s not available. And two, it’s a cost issue,” Kleinschmidt said. “I think there is always going to be this issue. The Northern Neck will never be big enough to have a Kroger or a Harris Teeter or a Wegman that does have healthier options.”

Legislation to create the Virginia Grocery Investment Program and Fund was introduced to the General Assembly this session. It aimed to provide financial incentives for grocery stores to expand in food deserts.

After passing unanimously in the Senate, the bill died in the House of Delegates. A similar House bill was killed in a House subcommittee early in the session.

Food banks rescue food from waste

According to the USDA, 30-40% of food is wasted in the U.S. annually. Grocery chains such as Lidl have joined the movement against food waste by selling 10-pound crates of “ugly” produce for $2. Food banks are incorporating the “ugly food” movement into their means of sourcing quality food for people living in food insecure areas.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Cooperative was created by Feeding America and stretches from New England to Virginia, providing nearly 1.5 million pounds of produce to food banks each month. The cooperative works to minimize food waste by purchasing “ugly,” rejected food at a large produce market. That produce is then sold back to a network of 23 food banks, including Feed More, for a reduced price.

Andrews said the rescued, unsold produce purchased from large companies along the East Coast saves the stores money, reduces food waste and increases food bank access to resources.

“We offer the opportunity for [grocery stores] not to have an increased trash bill and to be able to do something good with the things that they aren’t able to use and sell,” Andrews said.

By Kathleen Shaw and Corrine Fizer, Capital News Service. Top photo: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Kroger Community Garden, by Kathleen Shaw

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